Elif Eralp wins Berlin election: “One of us will be mayor!”

Mr President, I have an update for you: I was allowed to vote in Germany for the first time. And for the first time, the person I voted for won. After more than 15 years in which my votes went to losing candidates with impressive consistency.

Nevertheless, I have to say that voting in Germany is different than in Turkey. A shaky What I didn't see was the tension, mistrust and completely derailed anger that I know from the voting locations in Turkey. All of this should only come after the results were determined.

Perhaps, Mr President, you are now thinking that I have not yet fully integrated into this country. But the story that interested me most before this election was the involvement of the Turkish Workers' Party (TİP) in the left's election campaign. Together they went door to door and listened to people's problems. And do you know what most of it was about? Not about Palestine or Israel, but about rising rents, garbage, public transport and the high cost of living.

When the election results were announced, out of curiosity I went to the Ballhaus Rixdorf on Kottbusser Damm, which is now almost treated as a haven for clans and terrorists in some media. When the first forecasts were announced, a huge cheer went through the hall. Short victory speeches were followed by thin music. Despite the miserable acoustics, Migras danced to the muffled Saz sound of Halay, while Germans danced along with their usual awkward body coordination. Shortly afterwards I left the place without anything happening.

The election result didn't surprise me. Many people I spoke to over the past few months wanted to vote for the left. Mobilization was carried out to bring people who had never voted before to the polls. Even third-generation SPD families, whose children had perhaps heard “Willy Brandt is our father” from a very young age, wanted to vote for Elif Eralp this time. I hope, Mr. President, that this does not annoy you.

The next day there was a completely different excitement among people with Turkish roots: “One of us will be mayor!” So far, these people had tried unsuccessfully to identify with a certain Green person.

Apparently everyone – not only in Germany but also in Turkey – now wants to claim Elif Eralp as one of their own. Depending on where you look, she is Turkish, Alevi, Circassian, Kurdish, Anatolian, migrant or German. Even people who otherwise have little interest in politics were happy. Maybe just because it was the first time in a long time that they had something to be happy about.

While the Left was accused of clan and terrorism connections, you were peeling potatoes with young people in Hattingen. To be honest, I preferred the report about this to the one that dominated the German media in the past few days. When terms like “terror supporters” are used to discredit political parties, I can’t help but think of the AKP’s Türkiye.

Half-jokingly, I wonder if immunity will be lifted and the mandate revoked next. The next morning I read that, of all people, a former policewoman was demanding exactly that from the Greens.